Friday, August 10, 2012

California Sports & Athletes Making Big Moves

Unless you've been living under a rock you know the Summer Games in London have been going strong and starting to wind down with the closing ceremony scheduled for Sunday evening.

As I watch Team USA win medal after medal I can't help but be so proud of all the athletes from my home state that keep showing up and taking home the GOLD!

Maggie Steffens

It was an epic day in Women's Sports yesterday!

Our US Women's Water Polo Team defeated Spain and brought home GOLD for the 1st time in the sport. Of the 18 players, 15 of them are from California! Leading the team was Maggie Steffens (San Ramon, CA), a 19 year old rookie, who scored 5 goals in an 8-5 victory. She leads all scorers at the Summer Games with 21 goals in six games.

Alex Morgan

Yesterday also saw the US Women's Soccer Team win the GOLD against Japan for the third consecutive time. Since Women's Soccer was added as a sport in 1996, Team USA has played in every Gold Medal Final match. Of the 18 players, six are from California! They showed what they are made of and got redemption, as they lost to Japan in the World Cup in 2011

Megan Rapinoe (Redding, CA) made an exciting corner kick in the game against Canada and was a main force on the field. Sydney Leroux (Los Angeles, CA) came in off the bench and scored against New Zealand in the Quarter Final for us. Shannon Box was injured in the game against France but was cleared to play for the final and helped her team win. Amy Rodriguez (Lake Forest, CA) was a force as well as Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, CA). Last but never least, is Alex Morgan (Diamond Bar, CA) who can be considered the X-Factor for this team. They call her 'Baby Horse' for the way she gallops and takes long strides around the pitch. They may need to change her name to 'Stallion' from the way she played in London.

D. Howard 2008

On this side of the Pond, we have some major moves as well, but this involves our home town NBA team the Los Angeles Lakers.

What got me the most excited this morning was finding out that the Lakers have acquired Dwight Howard (Olympian, 2008) in a four team blockbuster trade. Their starting line up will now be Kobe Bryant (Olympian), Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol (Olympian, Spain), and Metta World Peace (I still call him Ron Artest).